Asia, with its population of over 4.5 billion people, is home to nearly 70% of the world's humanity. The Indian subcontinent, consisting variably of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, with over 1.7 billion people, is the largest such entity in the world. Geographical descriptions aside, what makes this region homogenous, are the similarities in health-care resources, diseases patterns, and their management. This may largely be attributed to our common history, climate, and population density as also a similar culture.

In terms of urology, there have often been efforts to develop regional alliances within these countries and also Afghanistan as a member of the SAARC group of nations. One such example is the Nephrology Urology Transplant Society of SAARC which focuses mainly on renal transplants. SAARC sessions have been held at annual meetings of the Urological Society of India, and urologists practicing in these countries often train at centers within the region, further strengthening these bonds. The Indian Journal of Urology is the only PubMed®-listed urology journal to be published from the SAARC countries. The IJU board initiated an endeavor to provide a platform to urologists of the region for publishing their research. It has also contributed to the capacity building for authors of the region over the last few years.

Beginning 2019, IJU is proud to have been accepted as the official journal of the Nepal Association of Urological Surgeons (NAUS). IJU has been in continuous publication since 1984, and this recognition in its 35th year is a step toward wider visibility and recognition for the journal. The journal welcomes Dr. Pukar Maskey as an International Consulting Editor, representative of NAUS, and hopes that his presence on the board will encourage greater involvement of NAUS members in the journal.

Beginning this issue, the journal also welcomes Drs. Siddharth Yadav and Omar Akhtar as Editorial Assistants for the journal. Over the last year, both these young urologists with outstanding credentials have contributed to the editorial processes in the journal, and we hope to make use of their enthusiasm and abilities to improve the presentation.

The IJU is now widely recognized among the urologic community, and this is reflected in the origin of our manuscripts and reviewers who now span the globe. However, future growth of the journal will depend significantly on the contributions of our own members who are increasingly producing excellent research. There is an undoubted hierarchy among journals, and it is natural to try and publish in higher ranked journals but a conscious commitment to support our own publication would go a long way in raising the ranking of our own journal. IJU achieved 1.061 citations per document in 2017 and an H index of 23 on the SCImago Journal Rankings.[1] The editorial board will continue to strive to improve our turnaround times and author support and hope to see these values rise over the next year.